“God sets the lonely in families” (Ps. 68:6). It’s easy to read a verse like that and think, “Aw. It’s so nice that God does that.” But the fact is, it’s actually deeply challenging, because we are the families of Psalm 68 in which God is placing the lonely. We are the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and sons and daughters that Jesus is promising in Mark 10. It makes Jesus’ promise quite unusual: there’s a sense in which it depends on us to fulfill it. Those who would otherwise be alone are grafted into the community life of his people. When God draws people to himself, he draws them to one another as well. The people of Jesus Christ are to be family.

It might sound a little weird, but I feel reassured when families feel able to have arguments around me.